Communications Department

About

Elizabeth Natalle

Elizabeth Natalle Associate Professor

Office: 112 Ferguson Building
Phone: 336-334-5297
E-mail: ej_natalle@uncg.edu

Degrees:

  1. Ph.D., Communication, Florida State University
  2. M.A., Speech Communication, Florida State University
  3. B.A., Foreign Language (Spanish), Communication, Secondary Education, University of Central Florida

Dr. Elizabeth "Jody" Natalle has taught in the Department of Communication Studies (CST) at UNC Greensboro for twenty-eight years and serves in these additional roles: CST study abroad advisor for International Programs; Honors Program liaison and disciplinary honors advisor in CST; and faculty member in Women's and Gender Studies. Natalle teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in communication theory, gender and communication, semiotics, and relational/intercultural communication. She has worked extensively with the UNCG exchange program with Linnaeus University in southern Sweden. Her consulting, research, and teaching have taken her to Europe over thirty times.

Her research specialization in gender and communication has included work on gender and interpersonal process, conflict, feminist criticism, women's communication networks in Scandinavia, feminist metatheory, and first ladies communication. Natalle has consulted on issues regarding gender and communication with corporate managers, state government managers, hospital social workers, university supervisors, law firms, federal court administrators, and the Federal Judiciary.

Dr. Natalle is an award winning teacher-scholar who has received several honors in recognition of her contributions to the field:

  1. 2007: Theodore Sorensen Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Library.
  2. 2006: Linda Arnold Carlisle Faculty Research Grant in Women's and Gender Studies
  3. 2004: Betty Jo Welch Service Award from the Carolinas Communication Association for continuing and outstanding service to the association and the profession.
  4. 2003: UNCG College of Arts & Sciences Teaching Excellence Award.
  5. 2003: Teaching Exchange Fellow at Vaxjo University in Vaxjo, Sweden.
  6. 1999: Scholar in Residence at Lulea University of Technology in Lulea, Sweden.
  7. 1996: First Woman of Distinction Awards at UNCG for her service and mentoring to students.

Dr. Natalle's professional service centers on the Carolinas Communication Association and the National Communication Association.  She has served as officer, journal article reviewer, editorial board member, conference program planner, and committee member in these organizations and through other professional venues for over thirty years.

Teaching:

My teaching philosophy centers on the notion of a rigorous intellectual experience that connects theory to the real world. Confucius said: Isn't it a pleasure when you can make practical use of the things you have studied? I believe in working hard, reading primary sources, and then trying out ideas and theories in daily life. Learning should also be fun, and being in the classroom is my favorite part of the day. Commitment to the learning experience and enjoyment of the knowledge gained are what I look for in a good student.

Undergraduate Courses Taught:

  1. CST 207 Interpersonal Communication
  2. CST 300 Communication Theory
  3. CST 407 Gender and Communication
  4. CST 460 European Intercultural Communication
  5. CST 499 Senior Capstone Seminar in Communication

Combined Courses Taught:

  1. CST 502 Semiotics (Undergrads and Grad Students)

Graduate Courses Taught:

  1. CST 612 Seminar in Feminist Rhetorical Criticism
  2. CST 601 Communication Theory
  3. CST 659 Communication and Gendered Communities

Research:

My primary research agenda is tied to interdisciplinary interests in communication and feminist theory. I am pursuing an integrated research agenda that I call the Woman's Voice Project. The general research question is: How do women find public voice in the contemporary world? In my research, I have looked for answers to this question through the examination of women as public speakers and actors; through the implications of feminist critical thinking in classroom pedagogy; and through an extensive mapping of feminist rhetorical theory and criticism. I am also a first ladies scholar with a specialty in Jacqueline Kennedy, and I am currently writing a book on Mrs. Kennedy's rhetorical activities. This research examines notions of first ladies as communicators in the ambiguous space of public and private life where her role is not defined. I would argue that knowledge of women as communicators helps us to understand the way people survive in human society. The social, political, economic, cultural, and communicative implications we glean from this knowledge are invaluable.

A secondary research interest lies within the dynamics of intercultural communication.  I am interested in the differences and dialectics that create opportunity in various intercultural situations.  I have explored this topic in my teaching and interaction in Northern, Central, and Southern Europe.  I find metaphor and relational dialectics especially helpful as explanatory frameworks for my observations.

Publications to read:

Natalle, E.J. (2012). An American professor’s perspective on the dialectics of teaching interpersonal communication in the Swedish classroom. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 24(2), 168-179.

Natalle, E.J. (2008). Teaching interpersonal communication: Resources and readings. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Natalle, E.J., & Bodenheimer, F.R. (2004). The woman's public speaking handbook. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Natalle

Natalle, E.J. (2004). Jacqueline Kennedy: The rhetorical construction of Camelot. In M.M. Wertheimer(Ed.), Inventing a voice: The rhetoric of American first ladies of the Twentieth Century (pp. 243-271). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Ryan, K., & Natalle, E.J. (2001). Fusing horizons: Standpoint hermeneutics and invitational rhetoric. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 31, 69-90.

Natalle, E.J., Papa, M.J., & Graham, E.E. (1994). Feminist philosophy and the transformation of organizational communication. In B. Kovacic (Ed.),New approaches to organizational communication (pp. 245-270). Albany: SUNY Press.

Natalle, E.J. (1985). Feminist theatre: A study in persuasion. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow